Meeting the producers we support in Côte d'Ivoire

As I reach the end of my first week of travelling, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on my visit to Cote d’Ivoire, which produces 40% of the world’s cocoa.

Almost 24 hours after setting off from Newcastle, I arrived in Côte d'Ivoire on the morning of Sunday, 25th January.

Day One

On Monday, Shared Interest Foundation Manager, Kodzo, joined me on a visit to RICE, the Ivorian Fair Trade Network, which represents 77 producer organisations and over 77,000 cocoa producers. We learnt more about the “Growing Fairer Futures: Empowering young cocoa farmers through beekeeping” project we are delivering in partnership with RICE and cocoa co-operative CAYAT.

As part of the project, six hundred beehives have been installed across farms, and participants anticipate it will increase cocoa production by 20% to 30% due to the increased biodiversity, as well as generating an additional income for 150 farmers, with 9,000 litres of honey produced across two harvests.

This project is the first of its kind in the region. Farmers were initially wary of the bees, as they thought they would harm the cocoa trees. Through education and regular updates from the local CAYAT radio station, these concerns have been replaced by confidence and enthusiasm, as farmers truly see the value of beekeeping.

Following the visit to RICE, Kodzo and I visited Holly Honey, a buyer who will purchase the honey produced by participating farmers. Holly Honey have been helping provide technical support to the farmers. While we were there, Simplice and Paul took the opportunity to visit ECOOKIM and Socak Katana, two other cocoa co-operatives in Abidjan supported by Shared Interest finance through our members' investments. 

Kodzo and I also visited the University of Félix Houphouët-Boigny and met the research team behind the Foundation's biopesticide project, which will produce the first ever biopesticide to control the pests attacking the cocoa trees. The team reported that the results were very good and production should start in June.

Day Two

On Tuesday, Head of Lending, Paul and Lending Manager of Côte d'Ivoire, Simplice, joined Kodzo and I on a three-hour journey to visit CAYAT, a large cocoa co-operative in the Adzopé region.

Here, we met with Kouassi Atta, who explained how bees naturally locate their hives. He explained that bees live in a community of harmony and do not like disruption; they do not like chemicals and, if chemicals appear, they leave. We also met with Koumann Frw. Noël and Yeboua Valerie, young cocoa farmers who have participated in the Youth in Cocoa project launched by the Foundation in December 2020. The project has taught young farmers how to produce cocoa sustainably and generate a stable and fair income.

Shared Interest first provided finance to CAYAT in 2016, enabling them to increase production and meet the growing demand for cocoa. The following year, they established a rural radio station with funds from the Fairtrade Premium. Now known as Radio CAYAT, its aim is to be the ‘voice of the producer’, focusing on topics such as health, environment, agribusiness and various other community themes. To round off our visit to CAYAT, myself and Paul had the fantastic opportunity to star in this local radio.

At the end of the day, we met members of Société Coopérative Agricole Adzopé Nord (SOCAAN), a cocoa co-operative participating in our biopesticide project. In 2025, SOCAAN General Manager, Anciette Asseu, joined the Shared Interest Foundation team for a virtual event to speak to Shared Interest members about the future of cocoa production in Côte d'Ivoire.

Anciette spoke about SOCAAN's motivation for participating in the project and the challenges her community faces as a direct result of the impacts of climate change. Find out more about this event or watch a recap here.

Day Three 

On Wednesday, we set off very early and travelled six hours on incredibly bumpy roads to see CADESA in the Adébém region, south of the country. A truck ahead fared rather worse than us (pictured below), highlighting some of the many challenges facing producers as a result of underdeveloped infrastructure. 

We received a very warm welcome from the CADESA team and learned more about their expansive social impact programmes. The co-opereative was established in 2003 and has 3,000 members. To improve literacy and combat child labour, CADESA have established 39 schools since 2017. We had the privilege of visiting one of these schools, where the head teacher explained that the school also provides essential supplies, food and fresh water. 

CADESA have also established a nursery to grow swollen-shoot-resistant seedlings and over 500 hectares of cocoa farms have now been replanted. In fact, swollen shoot disease is a major issue for cocoa producers across Côte d’Ivoire. Farmer, Ouedraogo Mamadou, passionately explained that when he was young, he could not see the light when he was amongst the cocoa trees. 

Ouedraogo explained:

"The forest was alive with monkeys ... The trees are like humans: they need sunlight, they need water, they need food and they need care. We have not taken care of our planet. Climate change has affected rainfall, the soil has lost nutrients and the cocoa trees are dying."

Another farmer explained that of his six-hectare farm, four hectares had been affected by swollen shoot disease and he has to dig out the trees to stop the disease spreading. (To date, they do not have a way to treat the disease).

Day Four

On Thursday, we visited CADESA's offices, their warehouse and also the site of their new processing facility. CADESA became a Shared Interest customer in 2017, and have since used our finance to construct a central warehouse, purchase two new tractors and one new truck, helping to transport cocoa to processing units. Our support has also been used to purchase cocoa from farmer members and power livelihoods within the community.

Tomorrow, I am looking forward to a more relaxed day with the team. Kwami and Grace, our Lending Officers for West Africa, will join us as we explore a bit more of the area, as well as visit Simplice’s home town, Grand-Bassam.

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Across West Africa, organisations of farmers and artisans struggle to access the finance they need to build resilience and grow. As aid budgets continue to decline across the globe, Shared Interest's support remains steadfast, offering a hand up, not a handout, enabling communities to trade their way out of poverty.

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